The Dominican Republic contributed significantly to the growth of exports at the regional level in 2022, with great performance in the area of manufactures based on natural resources, said the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in its recent report entitled “International Trade Outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean 2022”.
Despite the fact that, in the Caribbean and Central America, there was a 9 percentage point drop in the weight of primary products in total exports of the last two decades, reaching 11%, positive statistics are recorded in at least two lines, which boosted the development of foreign trade.
“The decline in exports of medium technology has been more marked (16 percentage points), while the share of manufactures based on natural resources, the main export line of the subregion, has increased with 39% and of medium and high technology,” says the study.
In the case of the last two categories, ECLAC attributes the positive performance to the growing weight in exports of the Dominican Republic, “the largest economy in the subregion,” leading the sector with the manufacture of articles and products derived from natural resources and low and medium technology.
Affected by price hike
ECLAC estimates that the value of regional exports of goods grew 20% in 2022, driven by a 14% rise in prices and a 6% expansion in the volume exported. According to the report, the line had its second year of double-digit growth in 2022, after growing 27% the previous year. However, as in 2021, shipment expansion was driven by higher commodity prices rather than the ability to increase export volume or diversify regional supply.
Source:
Diario Libre
